Toe Trauma! in The Day To Day Ramblings

So a few weeks ago I was rushing to get out the door with my mom and our feet got entangled and she ended up stomping firmly on both of my big toes. It hurt like a beast at the time but I sucked it up and we got out the door and moved on.

Fast forward to now and my toes are STILL hurting. I emailed my doctor after Rob mentioned that I'd been complaining about them for awhile (especially after working long shifts or after longer runs) and maybe I should get them looked at. My doctor asked me to remove the nail polish and lo and behold, both nails were black. Ugh.

So I went in for an appointment where my doctor was "yeah...you need to see a podiatrist. Like, now." I moved along to a podiatrist and she promptly told me "You have a huge amount of pressure under both of those nails from the accumulating blood and every time you run/play volleyball/work a long shift on your feet, you reinjure those toes from ramming in your shoes and they bleed all over and the pressure increases again." Hrmm...ok. I asked my options and her immediate response was "Full removal of both big toenails."

......oh God.

However, with such sharp pain and the recent interference in my daily life, I decided to just go for it. I can't just let it go on anymore. I'd sucked it up and dealt with it and slept on my back and wore different shoes and...still really painful, weeks later. So she whipped out the tourniquet and the lidocaine filled syringe and put nerve blocks in both of my feet. She did her thing (don't worry, won't go into specifics - was even a bit squeamish for my trauma nurse eyes!) and boom. No more toenails. Plenty of blood but no more toenails.

I went home thrilled! This was the best my feet had felt for six weeks! Well, ha, I wake up from a nap a few hours later, go to stand up and OH MY GOD MY FEET. The throbbing! The pain! I hobbled to let the dog out as I intended to do initially and reconsidered my previous somewhat impulsive decision. Ouch!!! I've since learned elevating my feet on pillows above the level of my heart eliminates the pain. The main problem being A) Can't live like this for the 5-7 days it will take for the swelling, inflammation and initial insult to resolve and B) I'm scheduled to work tomorrow!

Guessing I'll end up calling in and spending the day on the couch. I may feel better in the morning but not sure '12 hours without sitting down' better. Argh! Long time readers may remember I ripped one of my toenails off in 2009 pulling a beach chair towards me and ended up having my nail removed then after flipping it upwards...but this is different. Thankfully this was controlled and not as traumatic to the toe but STILL. That had me in a orthopedic boot for a week and off work the whole time. The podiatrist seemed to think I'd be fine for work tomorrow but oof. Not so sure anymore!

My nails should grow back over the summer and then hopefully they'll grow in normal and no longterm issue. Time shall tell. I briefly worried about my vanity and wearing flip flops with no toenails and then said "Screw it!" This is better than black, painful toenails and hell...if you don't like me because I don't have big toenails, you can sod off! ;)

Anyway, that's the latest update. If you need me I'll be hobbling around the house cursing my stupid feet. My mom feels terrible by the way but she shouldn't. Accidents happen. I just as easily could have landed on her feet!